Edgbaston is the closest English cricket has come to producing a war zone. The ground has seen pitch invasions, riots, incidents of drunken abuse, racism and even a fight, in 1987, which ended with a spectator having his throat cut, although the second world war bomb rumoured to be buried in front of the old scoreboard never actually exploded.

So it is to England's credit that today, when the place felt almost as deserted as Petra, they produced a performance of such ruthlessness that this sub-Bangladesh Pakistan batting line-up were dismissed for their lowest total in this country, within a mere39.3 overs.

England have bowled and fielded better than this before. In fact they did so in Nottingham just a few days ago. But their performance today, when they refused to be distracted either by Pakistan's hopeless inadequacies or the decision to stage a Test match in the middle of a building site, made considerable demands on their professionalism as well as their concentration.

Edgbaston today resembled one of those Spanish hotels that falls a little short of its holiday brochure depiction. You could almost imagine those spectators who did manage to pitch up firing off furious missives to the travel association, ABTA, and asking for their money back.

If you are in a hole stop digging, they say, but that didn't stop the man in the yellow JCB working on the ground redevelopment burrowing away as Pakistan slid further and further into the abyss.

The England bowlers had a lot going for them. The ball swung, seamed, bounced unevenly and, strangely, often bounced more when it was pitched further up.

Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn were so dominant they started to look a little sheepish before the end of Pakistan's meagre innings of 72, but they never lost their clinical focus.

England's new bowling coach, David Saker, describes himself as more tactical than technical – Troy Cooley, one of his predecessors, definitely belonged to the latter category.

It is also Saker's insistence that the England bowlers – including the spinner Graeme Swann – think of themselves as a unit rather than a bunch of individuals and there was no way the Pakistan batsmen were going to escape the pack's almost forensic examination today.

There was also a continued excellence about England's fielding, so much so that it came as a genuine surprise when Swann grassed a catch, and when the normally athletic Anderson let a ball go though him for four when he was fielding at mid-on.

There has been an edge in Edgbaston since the ground staged its first Test in 1902. Then, fighting broke out as a vast crowd tried to get in on the final day of the England v Australia game and the gates were finally opened even to those without tickets.

Players have often been lifted by the famous and occasionally infamous atmosphere of the place. Today, though, it was so quiet in the Eric Hollies Stand that one suspected Typhoid Mary had popped in. A Mexican wave was stillborn and the late intervention of the Barmy Army was almost welcomed. Almost.

Pakistan, though, resemble the Pakistan of old. The one that played England in 11 Test series, starting in 1954, before they finally won one, in 1983-84 – the same winter, coincidentally, that the New Zealand of Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe beat England for the first time, a memorable double for the touring captain Bob Willis.

"Pakistan chop and change their players too much," someone said on the radio. "How many players have they had?" The Test Match Special scorer, Malcolm Ashton, informed everyone that Pakistan had played 200 players since they entered Test cricket 56 years ago.

And how many players had England had since 1954. Er, 282 – although in that time England have played 557 Tests against Pakistan's 350.

Pakistan, who won in England for the first time in 1987 with Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram in the side, became much more competitive once a number of their players had become hardened by county cricket and Salman Butt's callow side would be much strengthened if more of his players had enjoyed that experience.

As England go serenely on, Pakistan's cricket is afflicted by a sense of panic, the knowledge that one bad decision will merely be followed by another.

That was best summed up by the idiotic decision to call up Mohammad Yousuf instead of sticking with the original party, though it was then decided that he would not play.

Today, poor Pakistan batted like duffers, fielded horribly and even looked a poor second best when they came up against the decision review system.

The only surprise was that a wandering outfielder did not chance upon that old wartime bomb. Things can only get better for the tourists – but we said that after Trent Bridge.